I am using the 250ML with a couple Elation Platinum 5R Pro automated fixtures. How do I get the engine based effects to work with these fixtures? If I select the fixtures and then press the “Effect” key, I can see the difference effects (ellipse, figure8, quad, triangle, etc), but how do I execute them? If I simply press the effect, nothing happens. Do I need to somehow record these effects into a playback or chase in order to get them to work? The manual does not say much about these effect engine effects.

I tried to experiment with the effects engine today and ran into the same questions:
How to activate an effect applied to a fixture? (my fixture was patched on Button S1 and didn't do anything when pressing one of the effects hotkeys).
Enter didn't help, but changed some of the displayed options on the TFT display. WTF?

it works, when you doing nothing in prior. So release everthing, press "Fixture" then select the Fixture "S*" then select the Effect. But than the fixtures are doing the FX only on there home position. If you select an other PAN/TILT position, it will overwrite the FX .
So you need to record the FX to a sub and a position to an other sub. If you you start both, the FX is working on the position of the other submaster.
It works, but the workaround is